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Vienna; the big wedding cake

Tuesday, October 17th, 2006

Photos from London to now are here:

Eastern Europe

Well it was back to Austria for a couple of nights this time to check out the capital. Apparently the place to be for all your cultural needs. Had a quick walk around the town after a long overnight train ride, checked out the big palace that dominates the town where the monarchy ruled from until it was dissolved in 1918, kind of cool place with beautiful gardens and things. Checked out a museum there which had a whole lot of info about one of the empress’s who was very well known and ended up being assasinated. Also in the museum was all this stuff from the palace, like all the cutlery and dinner sets…my goodness I could not think of much more boring things to look at. Got a free audio guide…”Notice the ever popular fiddle and stick engraving on the knives….this dinner set was given to the royal family in 1901 by the Queen of so and so…”

Hmmmm not the most exciting topics but neverless still an interesting museum. By the afternoon I was shattered so went back for a nap then that night headed out to the Opera with a few girls. Basically you can get really cheap tickets about an hour before so we payed 9 euros and got amazing seated tickets right up the front in little boxes. Very cool building and all very flash. The opera itself was all sort of ‘modern’ and in english…a bit strange…but was a cool experience just going.
Spent the next day checking out this market which is always good and just walking aorund the city which is actually really beautiful, lots of nice buildings and horse and carriges everywhere. So Vienna was a nice place not super exciting but good to visit. Only an hour train ride to my next stop Bratislava in Slovakia…why? why not..I had hardly even heard of the country before I got to Europe but why not visit for a few nights!
inside the opera house…

can we see your relics?

Tuesday, October 17th, 2006

So the trip to the Vatican Basilca turned out to a be far more funny than I imagined. As both Abby and mzself have christian backgrounds we both had a few opinions on the catholic church and prettz much spent the entire time in theological debate and of course laughing uncontrolably at some of the stuff that was going on. Like the queus of people lining up to touch some statues foot and all the people filling past tombs and having their photos taken with them. The whole idea of this weird religious tourism all seemed a bit..wrong…but we were there so I guess we cant say too much. Probably the best bit was after a bit of a conversation about how catholics seem obsessed with physical things and relics, like someones bones, a cup that Jesus touches, bread from the last supper etc etc. And Abbys guide book said that this Basilaca had a piece of the true cross and the spear that pierced Jesus. Well we had to find them of course and ended up asking one of the staff there about what relics we could see….”so where abouts is the cross?, and what about the spear…you know that pierced Jesus side?” I guess maybe you had to be there but trust me it was funny….
After we escaped the hoards of pilgrims and tour groups we climbed the stairs up to the dome and got a great view of the city. Unfortunately the stairs up there had been built in the 70s so it didnt feel that original climbing these orange and brown stairs, however it was worth it for the view.

After our sightseeing list had been fulfilled we went out for tea to this cute little place down a side street and had pizza, it was all verz italian and even had a cool band playing. Perfect birthdaz dinner. Spent the evening in the hostel bar having a few drinks and meet a whole lot of cool people including some kiwis (I knew there were some out there somewhere)

Headed back to the Vatican the next day to do the museums, so saw the sistene chapel and lots of other cool buildings and religious themed things. Got stupidly lost heading back to the hostel but made it eventually, grabbed some takeaway gnocchi and jumped on an overnight train to Vienna, verz short but sweet visit to Italy and defnitily will be back to do the country properly.

youll have to excuse the grammer in this post as am on the dodgist computer in Sovakia….obviouslz getting a bit behind on posts but will catch up over the next day or so…but for now its off to Hungary..

Rome if you want to, Rome around the world

Thursday, October 12th, 2006
You may have noticed by now that I have a bad habit of getting lost incities and spending disproportionate time wandering around with my pack on. Rome was no exception. Didnt help I didnt have the hostel address but I ... [Continue reading this entry]

Where else would you find a leaning tower other than Pisa?

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
Sometimes I feel a bit sorry for Pisa, I mean everyone goes for like 2 hours to take a photo then leaves. However on arriving I did discover that its actually quite a nice city and for the most part ... [Continue reading this entry]

Italia!!

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
The idea was to head to Italy to catch some of the last of the sun in Europe before we all ddecend into wintery whitness (which for the worst I will be long gone!): First day in Florence didnt really ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Hills are alive….

Monday, October 9th, 2006
With the sound of music...ahhhahhhahh.... For those of you who dont know (but come on we all secretly love it) Salzburg in Austria is the home of the sound of Music, so what better chance to go all out for the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Munich’s a city? I thought it was just beer tents

Monday, October 2nd, 2006
I really do need to actually see more of Munich other than just the Oktoberfest grounds! Maybe tomorrow....it really is crazy times here, unlike anything Ive ever seen, its just massive! so many people and soooooooo much beer, I cant ... [Continue reading this entry]

from sun to rain

Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
Welcome to London....Grey skies and rain......super. Spent the whole bus ride into town getting more depressed as just flown in from Nice where it was so nice! Anyway spent the last week or so going to the beach lots and as usual ... [Continue reading this entry]

moving again…

Monday, July 24th, 2006
(put up more photos, go to the my photos link on the right) any sense of stability I though I would have doing this nannying thing has gone, as we've now moved out of the campsite into a flat. Not that ... [Continue reading this entry]

so much cleaning…

Friday, July 7th, 2006
You would all be surprised how domesticated I’ve become! I’ve been spending my days doing never ender loads of washing and never ending dirty dishes. Think I forgot how messy kids are! Guess my most exciting stories now are that ... [Continue reading this entry]